Violent crime jumps for first time in two decades

The rate of U.S. violent crime went up last year for the first time in nearly two decades due to a jump in assaults, reported CNN.

Data collected by the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics in telephone surveys showed a 22 percent increase in assaults, pushing up the overall rate for violent crime for the first time since 1993.

Crime rates have been declining steadily over the period and last year's increase compares with a record low figure for 2010.

Statistics showed that the rate of assault victims increased from 19.3 per 1,000 persons to 22.5 per 1,000 last year.

The statistics include 3.9 million simple assaults defined as crimes involving a threat but no weapon that resulted in relatively minor injuries.

A second category described as serious violent crime include rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault. An estimated 1.8 million such incidents occurred last year, but the increase from the previous year was calculated to be statistically insignificant.

To read more: http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/17/us/violent-crime